Fret Not: This ESP32 Gadget Makes Guitar Practice a Breeze

Some people can pick up any musical instrument for the first time and start playing it like they have been practicing for years. And then there is the other 99.99% of us who, even after lots of practice, still have a lot to learn. The learning process can be so frustrating that most people throw in the towel and let their instrument collect dust after a few weeks or months of struggling with it.

Orhun Parmaksız is not only learning the guitar, but he is also a hardware hacker. So when the going got tough, Parmaksız got hacking. He created what he calls Tuitar, which is a portable, ESP32-powered guitar training tool. It helps improve one’s playing skills, and can also be used to aid in perfectly tuning a guitar. Tuitar is available as a DIY kit, so anyone in need of a little help can build their own.

Tuitar is a terminal-based application that runs directly on ESP32 hardware, complete with a small display, physical buttons, and rotary knobs for control. The ESP32 handles real-time audio processing, taking input either from an onboard microphone or a standard 6.35mm guitar jack. This allows the device to work with acoustic and electric instruments alike, without needing a computer once it’s powered on.

One of Tuitar’s most immediately useful features is its tuning mode. Incoming audio is analyzed to detect the fundamental frequency of the note being played, which is then mapped to the closest musical note. The display shows how sharp or flat the note is in cents, along with clear visual indicators that make it obvious when the string is perfectly in tune. This real-time feedback turns what is often a tedious task into something fast and intuitive.

Beyond tuning, Tuitar can track notes played on the guitar and display them on a virtual fretboard. In live mode, it highlights the strings and frets currently being played. Other modes turn practice into a game, such as a random note challenge that awards points for accuracy, or a scale mode that shows common scales like pentatonic, blues, and modes such as Dorian and Mixolydian. There is even a song mode, which can display notes from MIDI or Guitar Pro files loaded onto the device.

For users who want to dig deeper, Tuitar also includes signal analysis tools. Waveform and spectrum views allow players to visualize the raw audio signal and its frequency content, which can be useful for debugging pickups, experimenting with technique, or simply satisfying curiosity.

While Tuitar is still under development, Parmaksız plans to eventually bring it to Crowd Supply. Whatever the future holds for this project, it shows how a little embedded hardware and software design work can make learning an instrument less frustrating — and a lot more fun.